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There are many ways to create backgrounds in After Effects and many of us have our own special ways of doing this. Please join Dean Velez creator of ''The Anvel Training Program for Motion Graphics'' in a 5 part series as he shares some of his different methods. In this part four of the series, Dean uses a big X created in Photoshop and uses a variety of blend modes, effects, and adjustment layers in After Effects to create a fiery background.

Please preview the project files and movie before beginning this tutorial. Download movie and project files from the orange bar above.

This tutorial is built on a simple principle. After Effects sometimes needs footage to really make it cook. In this way we can look at using Photoshop stills as the catalyst to make an original animation.

The recipe consists of creating a large X in Photoshop and using it to create a firey background in After Effects.

Remember...we're artists, this job is supposed to be fun...so get in there and don't be afraid to get messy!

CREATING THE FIRE BACKGROUND: PHOTOSHOP

PLEASE REVIEW THE FIRE BKG ANIMATION BEFORE BEGINNING THIS PROJECT .

1. Open Photoshop and create a new document with the following settings.

11. Duplicate the X layer 9 times so that you have a total of 10 layers and convert all layers to 3D.

12. Set Position and Rotation keyframes for the 10 X layers at the beginning of the timeline to the following settings.

13. Set Position and Rotation keyframes for the 10 X layers at the end of the timeline to the following settings.

Start of timeline.

End of timeline.

14. Right click on the top of the switches and modes pallette and open the parent column.

15. Select layer and create a new null object at the beginning of the time line that will control all of the X layers.

16. Select all of the X layers and parent the 10 X layers to the Null 1 layer by clicking on the none box to the right of the layers. The Null layer will now be able to control all of the layers. Change the null layer to 3D

22. Render the animation out at this point at full resolution with no alpha channel. Then re-import it as footage into the project bin. This will save you render time on the final output. Render it out as BigXrotate.

23. Select composition / new composition and create a new composition with the following settings

24. Bring in the BigXrotate animation onto the timeline and duplicate it 4 times. Give them the following scales, rotations and blending modes.

25. Slow down the BigXrotate layers so that their movement seems more random.

26. Create 3 new solids with the following RGB settings

Click on the graphic above to view larger image.

27. Give the solids the following blend modes. This will create a tri-tone color effect.

Tip: When using solid colors to color correct tint it is best to have many shades of gray in the animation as white and black will not accept color changes. This is why we rendered the Xs at 50% opacity.

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